Winner announced for the ESA/UNICEF Water Quiz

Frank De Winne collects water samples for inflight analysis

6 October 2009

ESA astronaut Frank De Winne today announced the winner of the ESA/UNICEF Water Quiz live from space. Benedetto Lui (14) from Italy correctly answered all the questions and gave the closest answer to a tie-break question.

To mark ESA astronaut Frank De Winne's six-month OasISS mission to the International Space Station, and triggered by his role as goodwill ambassador for UNICEF Belgium, ESA's Directorate of Human Spaceflight Education Team teamed up with UNICEF to launch an online quiz for 12-14 year old European children.

Water and hygiene

The theme of the quiz was water on Earth and in space. UNICEF is currently running a campaign called WASH about water and hygiene - their campaign centres on the importance of clean water for human life.

Water, as a primary element supporting life, is also of paramount importance for human spaceflight and future exploration endeavours. Considerable effort is being made to help resolve the specific problems encountered in space – such as water scarcity, the need for recycling and special hygienic conditions. The technologies and solutions developed to meet these challenges are directly applicable on Earth.

By participating in the ESA/UNICEF water quiz the children could find out more about water on Earth and in space and learn how the two are related. Between 9 and 30 September, quiz participants were invited to answer 10 questions on the dedicated ESA/UNICEF Water Quiz website. More than 500 children registered to take part in the quiz, with many entrants coming from the Czech Republic, one of ESA's newest Member States, and from De Winne's country of origin, Belgium.

Live linkup with ISS

During a live linkup earlier today during the ISS Day education event in Brussels, Belgium, De Winne revealed the answer of the final question and announced the winner of the competition from on board the International Space Station. A recording of De Winne's announcement is shown below.